Archives

Fudge Happens

Why didn’t the President pre-condemn events that had not happened yet?

It’s also a major stretch to characterize a statement put out by embassy staff as an official Obama administration response. Especially when it was put out before the events in question, but even otherwise. Embassy staffs don’t issue the first official responses to events of national importance. You want to know what the official Obama administration response to the killings was? The one that came after they actually happened? It was the one by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, that’s what it was. The one where she said:

I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today. As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack. […]Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.